Mumbai: The city sweltered under intense heat on Saturday as temperatures in several suburbs climbed close to the 40-degree mark, making for a hot and humid weekend. Ram Mandir emerged as the hottest spot at 39 degrees Celsius, followed closely by Vikhroli at 38.8 degrees Celsius and Chembur at 36.6 degrees Celsius. These were the day temperature recordings at the automatic weather stations.Other parts of the city too recorded elevated temperatures, with Vidyavihar and Dahisar touching 35.7 degrees Celsius, while Bandra logged 35.4 degrees Celsius. Adding to the discomfort were high humidity levels, with the Colaba observatory recording 90% humidity and Santacruz 75%, resulting in sticky conditions across Mumbai.Meanwhile, the IMD’s Colaba and Santacruz observatory recorded maximum temperatures of 34.4 degrees Celsius and 35.6 degrees Celsius, which was 0.5 degrees Celsius and 2 degrees Celsius above normal. Many residents said that the daytime intense heating could be felt in the form of hot breeze through the evening and later into the night hours.In its five-day forecast issued on May 9, the weather bureau has given a yellow alert for May 10, indicating hot and humid conditions at isolated places for the entire MMR, including Thane, Mumbai, Raigad and Palghar.From May 11 onwards, dry weather conditions are expected in the city again.Minimum temperatures recorded by the IMD Colaba and Santacruz observatory on Saturday were 27.6 degrees Celsius and 28.2 degrees Celsius, which was 0.7 degrees Celsius and 1.8 degrees Celsius above normal.Some parts of MMR like Thane, Kalyan during the evening hours on Saturday also saw an intense dust storm for a short duration, which was accompanied by intense winds. Independent weather forecaster Abhijit Modak said, “Areas like Badlapur first baked under extreme heat, with the temperature soaring. However, nature had a dramatic plot twist reserved for the evening.A sudden dust storm swept across the region, bringing gusty winds of nearly 50 km/hr and causing temperatures to crash sharply.”
